Our friends and neighbours in the United States are celebrating Thanksgiving today. It's a big holiday for the Americans – possibly the biggest of the year. In large parts of the central and southern states, the end of November is the end of the harvest season in the same way that mid-October is for us in Manitoba and it's a fitting time to have a thankful holiday.

For many Americans, this year didn't feel very celebratory or thankful but it's worth remembering that Thanksgiving has been celebrated on the third Thursday of November since 1863, during the middle of the US Civil War. People in those days needed a helpful way to step back from a difficult time of crisis management in the same way that people do today. It's good to think about the big picture. To realize the things we are thankful for in the middle of things that cause stress.

I don't know what the office of the American President was thinking back when they picked the date for their Thanksgiving, but it just so happens that the celebrations tend to fall during the week before the first Sunday of Advent. Neither Thanksgiving nor Advent are biblical holidays but they are both based on biblical principles. Whether these two holidays were planned to go together or not doesn't really matter. They both happen to go together and, in the way things often work, they fit together in good ways that can help us understand our role as people of faith.

After a busy summer of planting, growth, harvest and cleanup, we take a break to be thankful and then switch our attention to preparing for the presence of God among us. Preparing for an important guest is a lot of work but our preparation also helps us set aside whatever we were thinking about and to instead focus on our relationship with the one who will soon arrive. In the same way, the Advent season is like shovelling the front porch and cleaning the Lego off the floor before we concentrate on hosting God's presence in Jesus during the Christmas season.

This year it looks like we get to do Advent worship services at a distance. That's too bad. But we can use our time at home thinking our own thoughts and listening to the recorded worship services on our phones to mentally prepare our heads and hearts and physical spaces for God's presence through Jesus.

The worship planning resources that our pastor and worship planning group is using this year are based on a theme of being, ‘on the road.’ As we prepare for Christmas, we are on the road but not yet arrived. On the road to being ready. On the road to repenting. On the road to restoration. On the road to revelation. Through all of those things, we are on the road to rejoicing even if it doesn't feel like we're there yet as we begin.

As we start the season leading to Christmas this Sunday, we should pause briefly with our American neighbours and be thankful for the moment before we hit the road.

Credits:

Donna Thiessen for recognizing the thoughtful timing of US Thanksgiving with Advent and Christmas.

Leader Magazine Advent planning guide for 2020 for the road themes